


Paper Cranes

by LazyGaySnake



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 06:07:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9371498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyGaySnake/pseuds/LazyGaySnake
Summary: Today there was a change in the scenery. A boy, about my age. His bright blue eyes glistening and crinkling at the corners as he looks at the children holding his hands. His beautiful dark skin covered in freckles. He removes his scarf, red to contrast his eyes, and wraps it around the little girl who was holding his hand a moment ago. His freckles flow down his neck, under his shirt and out of my sight.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my adorable smoochy penguin and her love of paper cranes. Thank you Zoe, love you lots! <33  
> (not quite finished yet but i was impatient, i'll update soon)

It's cold. To tell you honestly I really want to go home right now but I'm still sitting in this cold, watching the snowflakes dancing around the excited children. One by one, slowly descending onto the ground. It rarely snows here, it probably won't stick.

The reason I'm sitting in this cold and creepily observing children? Very simple, also very stupid. For the aesthetic. You know the feeling of just being outside for no particular reason, not having anything to do, just savouring the feeling of the cold air on your reddened cheeks and nose? It's a very cliche concept, but I like it. Even if it is cold, and the lack of distractions sometimes brings dark thoughts forth, I still like it. There's something strangely melancholic and beautiful about doing this. As if I've separated from the rest of the world and am in my own little daydream bubble.

The thought of someone sneaking glances at me, the sight of me making their heart beat faster, crosses my mind sometimes. And maybe I'm also looking at that someone when they're not paying attention, and the reason my cheeks are red might not be entirely from the cold. The cliche love story beginning. Could I get any more pretentious, you ask?Probably, but let's not delve into that. 

I haven't found anyone like that, in case you're curious. I highly doubt anyone's got their eyes on me, and I'm certain that the credit for my blushing face belongs to the cold air entirely. 

Every day, I come to the same park, sit on the same bench, and look at the same scene. The only addition are a couple of new faces from time to time. Also, now that it's colder, the remaining rain puddles from couple of days ago seemed to have frozen over, which resulted in more people falling on their ass. After being smacked by a poor middle aged woman who was victimized by the rain puddle I learned it's better to hold back my laughter. 

Today there was a change in the scenery. A boy, about my age. His bright blue eyes glistening and crinkling at the corners as he looks at the children holding his hands. His beautiful dark skin covered in freckles. He removes his scarf, red to contrast his eyes, and wraps it around the little girl who was holding his hand a moment ago. His freckles flow down his neck, under his shirt and out of my sight. 

They're all running around now. He's chasing them, pretending to be a monster. Two little girls, who look exactly the same, and a boy, so small he's not able to run properly just yet. They all look alike, they all look like him. I can feel a smile creeping at the corners of my lips.

I am awoken from my daydream by a manly battle screech. He slipped on a puddle and the kids are now tackling him. Their high pitched laughter lighting up the park void of colorful trees and flowers. The park is filled with children, they're all laughing, squealing, yelling in excitement. Their parents and nannies, sitting on nearby benches, chatting. The faint sound of the city's murmur outside of the park. Out of all those, his laughter is the loudest. Out of all the sounds, in this park and in this city, I can hear his laughter the clearest. Everything else just seems to fade.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but it was only after they left that numbness returned to my fingers and I finally decided to go home.

 

It's still cold. I'm in the same park, sitting on the same bench. Today I'm not here for the aesthetic. Somehow before I knew it, this park, this bench, has become my safe place. I don't have a particular reason to feel this way. Today was the same, just as any other day. I woke up, fought with Pidge over who gets to use the bathroom first, Allura force-fed us her weird green goo, "Because it's healthy" she said. Shiro just sat there, immune to our suffering, and the green goo. After that I went to school, same old boring classes, same old boring teachers, same old shitty classmates. 

When I think back on my day, everything was the same, except I let Pidge have the bathroom first, and I didn't try to run away from Allura and her green goo. At school i zoned out in class and ended up skipping lunch. Everything was the same, I just felt different, today, even now, I just feel empty.

I feel my face contorting, I'm trying to hold back tears, I can't cry in public like this. I take a deep breath and look up, they're already here. I was so engrossed in my own misery I didn't even notice them coming. The blue eyed, freckled boy and his siblings. Seems like today, not even his laughter could reach me. Except he's not laughing, not like he usually is. His face falls when his siblings look away, his lips heavy with sighs. He looks up at the sky, he looks tired.

I feel the tears coming back to my eyes, I can't hold them back anymore so I just let them flow. I try not to be too loud, I'm already embarrassed as it is. I curl up, bringing my knees to my chest, and lowering my head. I can't imagine how ugly I look right now. I don't want him to see me like this, not that he's ever looked at me before. It's been a week since I first saw them. 

I feel something poking at my knee. I poke a bit of my head out, to be met with a giant bunny hair clip. It's one of the twins, one of his sisters. She's holding out a tissue, I take it warily.

"Why are you crying?"

 

"I'm not really sure myself" I chuckle at her big eyes looking up at me. They're different from his, hers are brown.

 

"Well, if you still want to cry, you can. But you have to smile when you're done! That's what my brother says"

 

"Your brother seems like a very nice person" I'm still sniffling. She seems unfazed, ready to have a pleasant conversation.

 

"He is! And he's really cool as well!" she jumps onto the bench next to me.

 

"I see. But didn't he teach you not to talk to strangers?"

 

"You're not a stranger!" she grins. " You're always sitting there, looking at us and smiling. You're watching over us. You're like an angel!" I can't help laughing at that. Little kids really are something else. I feel the tears clearing away.

 

"Yeah, you see, I came down here from the sky to look for humans to watch over. And I really like you guys so I decided to stay" 

 

"You're a real angel!" her eyes are suddenly sparkling, two little warm hands, squishing my cheeks.

 

"Do you have wings?" 

 

"I do but I left them up in the sky... What should I do?"

 

"You're not really an angel are you?" she pouts. 

 

"No, I am definitely an angel."

 

"Stop teasing me!" 

 

"Okay okay I'm sorry. You're just so cute I couldn't help it" I pinch her little cheeks, they're so soft, like marshmallows. I wish I got to see Pidge when she was this small and cute. 

 

"We're friends now so you have to tell me your name" 

 

"My name is Keith, and yours?"

 

"I'm Rosie! And that's Bella!" she points at her twin sister, who's playing on the slide with some other children. "And my big brother is Lance and the baby is Rafi." 

So his name is Lance. I want to try it out, see how it feels falling from my lips. I'll wait until I'm alone.

 

"Rosie! What are you doing, we have to go!" It's his voice. He's calling from the other side of the playground, holding Bella's little hand with one of his much bigger ones, and carrying Rafi in the other.

 

"I have to go now" she hops down from the bench. 

 

"I'll give you something but you have to promise me to smile from now on!" she reaches into her pocket to pull out a slightly crumpled red paper crane.

 

"Lance made it for me, so you have to take care of it well! You promise?" she holds out her pinkie finger and I latch mine onto it. "Promise."

She quickly kisses my cheek before running off.

 

"Bye bye Keith!" she looks back to wave at me once more and that's when it happens, she slips. I'm already on my feet, about to run to her but she's already up. She's not crying like I expected her to, instead she looks at me and keeps waving, and smiling, as if nothing just happened. She only stops waving when Lance calls out to her again. 

He's looking down at her, smiling softly. It's back,the smile that I love seeing. No sigh hidden behind his lips, and no frown when the little ones look away. Now I know, even if I looked away, even if Rosie looked away, he'd keep smiling, softly. He looks up at me, his warm smile unchanging and gives me a small wave. I can feel the warmth rising to my cheeks, I think I'm gonna throw up. Is this how falling in love feels? No one told me about this. Fuck

 

It's warm. I'm in my room, in my bed, and it's warm under my blankets. It's also warm inside of my rib cage. In the darkness of my room, with only a bit of moonlight creeping through my window, the silhouette of Rosie's paper crane is staring back at me. I taped it onto the wall next to my bed, so I can always look at it, the paper crane he made. 

I'm such an idiot. If Pidge could hear my thoughts she'd say the same thing. Why am I getting so worked up over a guy I don't even know? Who knows what he's actually like. What if we happen to talk one day and I end up completely disappointed? I'm not in a shoujo manga for fuck's sake. 

I say that, but I still feel warm at the thought of his smile. I say that, yet I know I won't take the crane off my wall. I say that, yet I know I'll be back to that park tomorrow, not for the aesthetic, but for Lance.

The whisper of his name fills the emptiness of my room, and I drift off to sleep, thinking of blue eyes, freckles, bunny hair clips and paper cranes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Kudos and comments greatly appreciated. I hope you're having a nice day or night and if not I'm sending you all lots of hugs and kisses. It's gonna be okay  
> xx


End file.
